Why Workers Hesitate to Report Their Work-Related Musculoskeletal Symptoms: A Survey at a Korean Semiconductor Company

Abstract

Underreporting work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD) has been an issue in South Korea. The purpose of this survey was to figure out how many employees of a semiconductor and liquid crystal display company in South Korea experience WRMSDs and what the possible obstacles in reporting to the company are. A survey was developed with demographic questions, perceived WRMSD symptoms, and reasons for reporting or not reporting WRMSD. The survey was distributed via the company’s intranet to all employees (24,380) whose employee identification number ended with an odd number. A total of 2862 employees completed the survey and the response rate was 11.7%. A total of 55.2% of respondents had felt at least one musculoskeletal symptom during the past year. More than 40% of workers who had experienced pain or discomfort during the past year thought their symptoms were more than 50%. work-related. More than one-fourth of respondents answered that they did not report their symptoms to the company more than once. The open-ended answers for not reporting WRMSD were categorized into seven common reasons. The reasons for not reporting WRMSD in previous studies show a combination of personal, organizational, socioeconomical, and cultural factors. To encourage and manage WRMSD effectively, seven recommendations of authors are described.

Reporting of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders and Associated Factors Among Nursing Assistants in Long-Term Care Facilities in South Korea

“…Our ndings showed that a substantial number of NAs with a WRMSD (84.4%) did not report it to their management. This gure is higher than reporting rates in previous studies that ranged from 21-74% [13,17,18,35,36]. WRMSD reporting to management was related to positive attitudes toward reporting, experience of witnessing the injury reporting of others, good safety climate, and not having WRMSDs resulting in changed of jobs, tasks, or work due to WRMSDs.…”

“…Markary et al (2007) found that the odds of nonreporting of needlestick injury reporting were 19.29 times higher among surgeons who were aware of injury by another person than those who were not [43]. In a study of workers a Korea semiconductor company, one of the reasons for not reporting of WRMSDs was that the workers had never seen injury reporting of others [17]. By witnessing other's experience, workers may gain speci c information or knowledge such as where, how, and to whom to report their work-related problems.…”

“…Research indicated that 20-74% of U.S. workers who experienced a workrelated injury or symptom did not report it to their management [13,15]. WRMSDs are more likely to be underreported because the multifactorial etiology and insidious onset of musculoskeletal symptoms make it di cult to prove the work-relatedness of the MSDs [16,17].…”

A Validated Injury Surveillance and Monitoring Tool for Fast Jet Aircrew: Translating Sports Medicine Paradigms to a Military Population

“…musculoskeletal complaints are not captured). Common themes for this include: recordable injury definitions being too narrow [ 15 , 19 ], reliance upon medical attention being sought (and from the appropriate providers) [ 15 , 39 , 40 ], and fear of negative consequences [ 39 , 41 – 44 ]. The self-report OSTRC-O has shown to reduce underreporting by using broader recordable injury definitions, and removing reliance upon medical attention being sought [ 20 ].…”

Underreporting of work‐related low back pain among registered nurses: A mixed method study

“…4 Research has indicated that work-related injuries in national statistics have been generally underreported and underestimated in the United States as well as in other countries. 3,[5][6][7][8][9][10] For example, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics conducts the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) among a sample of employers, which serves as the primary data source for national statistics of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses. However, SOII is particularly limited in its ability to capture work-related illnesses that are slow to develop, such as cumulative MSDs.…”